Page 30 of One Day

“With Sonya,” she says. “There’s clearly something there, Walker. You can’t deny that, but you’re holding back. So, again…what’s scaring you? Is it the fear of her turning you down? Ruining the friendship? Because the way I see it, the worst thing that happens is she says no, and if it ruins your friendship, then you were never really friends to begin with.”

I swallow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She smiles, leaning into my side. “Really? Cause you’re staring again.”

I blink and pull my gaze off Sonya to look at Wren. “I’m not.”

She claps her hand on my back, tightening her hold on the beer in her free hand before stepping back from me. “Right. I’ll leave you to your not staring, then.”

“Wren, I’m not—” But my efforts are pointless because she’s already walking away from me, leaving me to do exactly what she said. When I’m alone, I give up trying to ignore it and go back to openly staring at Sonya while trying to stomp down the jealousy brewing in my chest.

I’ve never felt this way before, but I’m learning it doesn’t matter when it comes to Sonya. She’s always on my mind. Even when I try to shake her, I can’t get rid of her.

She’s a heavy presence in my life, not one I’m particularly mad about. I don’t know what I’d do without her, and I don’t want to find out. Which is what has me so on edge, unable to pick one side over another. Saying no is the logical choice. If I deny us ever having something more, nothing changes. We can stay this Sonya and Walker, move past it, and just be us.

But even that seems to be harder to swallow. I want to say yes. And in saying yes, it means I’m opening us up to something we can’t just stuff away once we’re done and bored with it. Not that I think I’ll ever be bored, not with Sonya.

It doesn’t change the fact that standing here, watching her draped over someone else, has my stomach in tight knots. She isn't mine. I have no right to be jealous, and yet the idea of anyone touching her that isn’t me feels wrong. I’ve tied myself to her without meaning to, without even having my first real taste, and I know that means I should go home.

Being here, watching her, is just filling me with temptation. Temptation I have no willpower to fight against, but instead of doing the reasonable thing, I find myself heading towards her on the far side of the bar. Tucked up nice and tight to the tall blond.

The blood beneath my skin warms at the sight of the two of them.

“Hi, Cowboy.” Sonya smiles the moment I reach their table, and if I weren’t so fixated on her body, I probably wouldn’t notice how she scoots closer to him or that his hand slides lower on her back. “You remember Campbell? He lives next door with Dylan.”

I nod my head, biting down on my tongue to keep from telling him to get his hands off her. “I think so,” I say instead. “You play for the Mustangs, too, don’t you?”

“Yeah, left-wing.”

“Did you want to join us?” Sonya asks, pointing to the empty side of the booth. “Me and Campbell are just talking about my app.”

My brows pull together. “What app?”

“Oh! I didn’t tell you, did I? The university wants to do an app for a kind of one-stop shop for all the university teams, and my class gets to pitch our design and ideas for the player profile section. They’re going to pick one of us to be on the official development team, which is amazing, but we’re working with the hockey team for the prototypes,” she shares, her face lighting up with excitement and it frustrates me that I’m only finding out about this now. “Campbell and Dylan are my assigned players.”

“That’s incredible, Sunny,” I say, pushing aside my other feelings to bask in this joy with her. “You’re going to do something amazing.”

“Oh, I’m going to crush this! It helps that I get to be so hands-on.” Her hand moves under the table, and with it, so do my eyes, tracking it as it slides down Campbell’s leg.

Gritting my teeth, I blow out a breath. “I’m sure.”

“Everything okay, Cowboy? You seem tense,” she asks, her gaze traveling over my face, and when I meet her eyes, she smiles and it’s like the dam I’ve been holding in snaps. My eyes slide to Campbell, who is looking at her in a way I know is real, but the rivaling one on Sonya’s tells me exactly what this is.

She’s fucking with me.

“I’m great,” I say, stepping down from my stool. “You two have fun.”

Sonya’s eyes widen at my abruptness, her hand finally leaving Campbell’s leg. Relief fills my chest at the sight of her putting space between herself and him, but all it does is confirm what I already know.

She’s playing a game.

“Walker, wait,” she says, reaching for my arm before I can get too far. “Where are you going? I thought we were going to hang out?”

“You seem preoccupied.”

“Walker.”

“What?” I bite out harder than needed.

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